WASHINGTON — The late Rep. Jack F. Kemp, R-Hamburg, has been named a recipient of the nation’s highest civilian honor, the Presidential Medal of Freedom.

President Obama announced Thursday that he also was conferring the award on 15 others, including Sen. Edward M. Kennedy, D-Mass.; former Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O’Connor; and physicist Stephen Hawking.

“These outstanding men and women represent an incredible diversity of backgrounds,” Obama said. “Their tremendous accomplishments span fields from science to sports, from fine arts to foreign affairs.”

Yet all the recipients — who also include Archbishop Desmond Tutu, retired tennis great Billie Jean King and the late gay rights pioneer Harvey Milk — share one overarching trait, Obama said.

“Each has been an agent of change,” the president said. “Each saw an imperfect world and set about improving it, often overcoming great obstacles along the way. Their relentless devotion to breaking down barriers and lifting up their fellow citizens sets a standard to which we all should strive.”

Kemp represented a suburban district in the House from 1971 to 1988 and later served as secretary of housing and urban development and the GOP vice presidential nominee in 1996.

He died of cancer in May. Rep. Louise M. Slaughter, D-Fair-

port, said Kemp’s Medal of Freedom was well deserved.

“His dedication to social justice and equal opportunity was unwavering, and he always sought out the new and innovative ideas to old problems,” she said.

Obama will present the awards at a ceremony Aug. 12. Other recipients of the 2009 Presidential Medal of Freedom are:

Nancy Goodman Brinker, founder of Susan G. Komen for the Cure, the world’s leading grass-roots breast cancer organization.

Pedro Jose Greer Jr., the founder of Camillus Health Concern, an agency that provides medical care for more than 10,000 homeless patients a year in Miami.

The Rev. Joseph Lowery, co-founder of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, a leading civil rights organization.

Joe Medicine Crow-High Bird, the last living Plains Indian war chief and a noted Native American historian.

Actor Sidney Poitier.

Entertainer Chita Rivera.

Mary Robinson, the first woman to become president of Ireland and a former United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights.

Geneticist Janet Davison Rowley.

Anti-poverty leader and Nobel Peace Prize winner Muhammad Yunus.